The octopus- an evolutionary anomaly?

[Bob the kracken]

i was hoping you experts in octopus behavior could help me with this one. as you all know the octopus has a short lifespan, a birth, a growth period, just long enough to mate, reproduction, then death. this simple sequence of events makes it seem as though the octo has only one purpose in life, to mate and reproduce. and yet they are so intelligent. the reason for this is not apparent to me, i see no reason for them to be intelligent, they just are.

 

[OB]

Well, take a long hard look at Homo sapiens, and I think you'll draw a very similar conclusion.

If intelligence enhances the chances of reproduction, it can and will become a selective pressurepoint. The more intrigueing question is probably why octopus are so intelligent without having any social structures...

 

[Bob the kracken]

what was their closest ancestor with a social system. i could be wrong but didn't they first orrigionate from cuttlefish

 

[cuttlegirl]

what was their closest ancestor with a social system. i could be wrong but didn't they first orrigionate from cuttlefish

Umm... no, they didn't originate from cuttlefish.

See this thread.
http://www.tonmo.com/community/index.php?threads/4620/

 

[OB]

Or this one

 

[Bob the kracken]

Umm... no, they didn't originate from cuttlefish.

See this thread.
http://www.tonmo.com/community/index.php?threads/4620/

no need to make me feel like a moron with your "umm... no"

 

[cuttlegirl]

no need to make me feel like a moron with your "umm... no"

Sorry, I wasn't trying to make you feel like a moron, sorry. It is an interesting question, we don't really know how social fossil cephalopods were...

 

[Phil]

i could be wrong but didn't they first orrigionate from cuttlefish

No, almost certainly not I'm afraid Bob. The common ancestor of cuttlefish and octopus probably existed way back in the Devonian, a strange primitive internally shelled ceph in a time so distant that it even predated the ammonoids. It's hard to be certain given the lack of fossils, but cuttles probably evolved from the Teuthid squids in the Cretaceous or possibly the early Tertiary, though it is possible they had a lineage that linked to the earlier belemnoids. Octopus evolved along an entirely seperate lineage post-Devonian.

At least that's how I understand it. If anyone knows any different, please shout.

As Cuttlegirl says, it's impossible to determine social organisation amongst fossil coleoid cephalopods.

 

[WhiteKiboko]

because phil is humble and all, i'll trumpet his chart:

http://www.tonmo.com/science/fossils/cephages.php

 

[Phil]

Ah, thanks WK sir. It was cobbled together out of a couple of charts in Clarkson's Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution, so please don't think I invented it! The whole area around cuttlefish/squid should be riddled with question marks as to ancestral lineages, as that whole area is highly speculative.

 

[zyan silver]

they have a social system in our house. they are the bosses and we are the masters keepers! ( i thought it deserved a exclamation point). zy

 

[Phil]

 

[WhiteKiboko]

Ah, thanks WK sir. It was cobbled together out of a couple of charts in Clarkson's Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution, so please don't think I invented it!

Pfft. At least you went to the trouble of making little pictures of the critters....

 

[Cairnos]

If intelligence enhances the chances of reproduction, it can and will become a selective pressurepoint. The more intrigueing question is probably why octopus are so intelligent without having any social structures...

I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and suggest that social structure and opportunistic cannabalism are mutually exclusive survival strategies.

 

[Jean]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and suggest that social structure and opportunistic cannabalism are mutually exclusive survival strategies.

hmmm if you annoy me I"LL EAT YOU!, has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?

Could be useful when dealing with recalcitrant students, I can just see it as my door plate..............

J